Robert DoggartThe special federal agent bent down and unbuckled a black box this morning. James Smith stood up, faced the jury and cradled a M-4 rifle in his hands.
On the second day of Robert Doggart's trial today, federal prosecutors introduced the weapons that members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized from his Signal Mountain home in 2015.
Among the thousands of rounds of ammunition, agents also recovered his rifle and a shotgun, prosecutors said.
Authorities say Doggart planned to use these weapons to attack a Muslim community called Islamberg in upstate New York with the help of a few colleagues he found on social media.
His trial, expected to last a week, started yesterday with prosecutors playing a series of phone conversations Doggart had with a confidential informant in March 2015.
Today, prosecutors followed that up with a recording that FBI agents recorded of Doggart and the informant meeting at a Ruby Tuesday's in Nashville.
During the meeting, Doggart, a self-described Christian minister, says he wants to do a reconnaissance mission on Islamberg first to determine how dangerous its members are. As prior recording indicated, Doggart believed the community was planning to attack New York or possibly poison the Delaware River, though law enforcement had no such evidence to support that belief.
Doggart then alludes to setting up a meeting between himself, the informant, and at least two other people who expressed interest in going up to Islamberg, armed and ready to burn down mosques and other buildings.
The government, which has called FBI agents to explain the recordings, is expected to introduce more proof this afternoon and wrap up its case in four days.
After that, the defense has said it plans to put on proof for two days.
Follow along for more updates. This is a developing story.